He didn’t acknowledge her comment as he continued into the mudroom, but when she stepped out into the garage after he went back upstairs, she saw her trunk door open. He made several trips between the bedroom and the car, and Lina noticed the paleness of his skin and the beads of sweat on his forehead.

“Have you taken any of these?” She lifted the bottle of painkillers when he stepped out of the mudroom.

“You told me to leave. Stop acting like my wife.” He left the room, and for the next couple of hours she saw him sporadically as he did some work in his study, went out to the car a few times and took a soda from the refrigerator.

“I’m telling them about the baby.”

Lina turned at the sound of Phil’s voice. He was under the arch of the doorway leading into the kitchen from the front of the house. “No.” She shook her head. “Not until after he’s born.” He was having a son. “Did you know? That she was having a boy?”

“I’m telling them,” he said, ignoring her question. “I’m not putting them through this twice.”

“Are you a hundred percent sure it’s yours?”

“She had an in vitro DNA test. He’s mine.” He disappeared back in the direction of his study.

Lina followed and found him sitting behind his desk. “We can’t just tell them. They’re going to be devastated enough by you leaving. Why don’t we wait?”

“I’m telling them,” he said coldly.

“I didn’t sleep with him. I didn’t kiss him. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

He looked up from his computer screen. “You chose him.”

“No, I didn’t,” she said, shaking her head. “He’s a friend, and I was in pain. Those pictures devastated me.” She felt her lower lip begin to tremble. “He’s no different than a woman friend.”

“Except he’s not a woman. He’s a man who’s in love with you. A man you have insisted on numerous occasions you have no relationship with.”

“I don’t.”

“You went to his house. You ran to him—not your mother, not Adele, not Diane, but Katie’s ex-doctor.”

“You took her to our vacation home! You fucked her in my bed! You destroyed this family!” Tears gathered in her eyes. “I’m not going to feel guilty for something innocent.”

“Then don’t. I’m the bastard. I’m the man you wish you’d never met, so why don’t you just stay away from me? The kids will be home in half an hour, and then I’ll be gone, just like you asked. What do you want from me, Lina?”

“I don’t want you to be such an asshole to me,” she said, folding her arms across her chest. “You’re the one who did this to us.”